-A book involving travel: Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams. This was book #5 in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. It involves travel…space travel, that is! “20 years on, the Guide falls into the hands of Arthur Dent’s daughter, Random, whose mother, unexpectedly to all concerned, is Trillian. Random journeys to an insignificant planet, whose entry in the Guide reads mostly harmless.” (Goodreads). A great conclusion to an entertaining series!!!
-A book set around a holiday other than Christmas: Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. This book takes place during Carnaval de Quebec, one of the world’s largest winter carnivals! The story doesn’t center around Carnaval, but it is mentioned a few times. “Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society— where an obsessive historian’s quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly 400 years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it? Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smouldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ Olivier’s partner writes every day. ‘He didn’t do it, you know.’ As past and present collide in this novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.” (Goodreads). This was a good read, although it’s book #6 in a series that I’ve never read before so I found I didn’t know all the history and background behind all the characters. But it was entertaining. I’d read another book in this series.
-A book from a nonhuman perspective: Redwall by Brian Jacques. This book was all about woodland creatures, specifically centering around mice and rats and the battle between them as the rats attempt to take over Redwall Abbey, home to the mice. Matthias the mouse leads the Redwall Abbey creatures, while Cluny the Scourge leads the ratpack. “Cluny is certain that Redwall will fall easily to his fearsome army – but he hasn’t bargained for the courage and strength of the combined forces of the Redwall mice, their loyal woodland friends.” This was a series that was recommended to me as something my boys would like to read when they get older. I read it first just to see what it’s like and found I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.
-A book you bought on a trip: The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. To be honest, I can’t remember exactly where I bought this book…but I think I bought it on a trip of sorts: to my hometown (20 mins away) on a visit to the local thrift store. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Lol. Anyway, this was another excellent book by Kate Morton (if you like her sort of story). Full of twists and turns and secrets…keeps you guessing until the very last pages! I’ve loved every one of her books! This one deals with Grace Bradley, a maid who works at Riverton and becomes intertwined in the lives of the Hartford sisters, Hannah and Emmeline. Then at a society party a young poet shoots himself and the three girls are the only witnesses to the event. When Grace is close to dying she goes back to Riverton and reawakens her memories of her time in that house.
-A book with an unreliable narrator: The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson. I would say this narrator was unreliable…because she was jumping back and forth between alternate lives/dreams of her. What is real? It was an intriguing read, but it was predictable and took a while to cover all the ground that it did. “Denver, 1962: Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She loves the bookshop she runs with her best friend, Frieda, and enjoys complete control over her day-to-day existence. There was a man once, a doctor named Kevin, but it didn’t quite work out the way Kitty had hoped. Then the dreams begin.
Denver, 1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They have beautiful children, an elegant home, and good friends. It’s everything Kitty Miller once believed she wanted—but it only exists when she sleeps.
Convinced that these dreams are simply due to her overactive imagination, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. But with each visit, the more irresistibly real Katharyn’s life becomes. Can she choose which life she wants? If so, what is the cost of staying Kitty, or becoming Katharyn?
As the lines between her worlds begin to blur, Kitty must figure out what is real and what is imagined.” (Goodreads).
